Autonomous RC10B4

[Swifty]

I am trying to make my car autonomous using an Arduino microprocessor. You can see my progress on my blog at swift-rc.blogspot.com

I would love to be able to make it drive itself around a track at some point, but my living room is challenging enough for now.

Any comment or suggestions are welcome.

Swifty

[colmo]

Interesting - I'd have thought such projects better suited things like crawlers and tanks (can turn on the spot)....nevertheless, a neat idea.

I was having a dig through the code there - it's quite easy to read.

I suppose the next step for you is to get the car to steer while still moving - that may need more IR sensors up front. Ultimately, you'd want an array of fixed ones covering the front 90 degree arc instead of a single moving one for more rapid response. This would allow variable steering values too - atm, it is either full left, centre, or full right. I envisage a calculation for degree of steering lock depending on distance to the next obstacle and motor speed.

I actually think it might manage a race track as it is - there's more space to turn and the barriers are pronounced and obvious (as long as the pipes are high enough!)

[teamorsum96]

would you program it to shout out 'MARSHALL' when it crashes lol

[Whiskers]

Just out of curiosity, right at the bottom of the blog the pictures of the track. What track is it? It looks familiar to me.

[Swifty]

They where taken at the North West Regional Series in 2007 at Bury Metro.

[stoff]

This is a really exciting project! Please keep it updated regularly

[Swifty]

Originally Posted by stoff

This is a really exciting project! Please keep it updated regularly

Thanks, I have just added some videos from the car's perceptive to my blog and I'm working on my next post. I am working on calibrating the infra red sensor and reducing the noise in the readings. I'll post that later today or early tomorrow.

Swifty

[Deano577]

Dude you got to much time on your hands but good luck

what about controlling it from your iPhone etc with inboard view o. The screen !!!!!

[dodgydiy]

i made a simple ' vehicle' based on passive infa red sensors that would follow you around wherever you went, later became a camera that followed you when i got bored, was good fun at the time. i think you have a great project there. how are you measuring distance from objects to allow you clear track markers etc?? are you just relying on the ir sensor?

[Swifty]

Originally Posted by dodgydiy

i made a simple ' vehicle' based on passive infa red sensors that would follow you around wherever you went, later became a camera that followed you when i got bored, was good fun at the time. i think you have a great project there. how are you measuring distance from objects to allow you clear track markers etc?? are you just relying on the ir sensor?

At the moment all I have is an ir sensor. In the future I want to have more longer range ir sensors and I would like to try ultrasound. I would also love to have a camera on board, but processing the data produced would be impossible without using a computer.

As always I am open to suggestions and comments.

Thanks

Swifty

[Swifty]

Hello All,

I just update the blog, I have calibrated the infra red sensor. Next up is checking for timing errors.

Swifty